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Specialised anti-corruption courts: Slovakia

In 2003 Slovakia established a Special Court, subsequently renamed the Special Criminal Court (SCC), principally for corruption and organised crime cases. The SCC was a response to the domination of the ordinary lower courts by criminal networks and local elites. The SCC attracted considerable criticism from the judicial establishment, due mainly to the higher compensation for SCC judges, but it survived both political and constitutional challenges, albeit in a slightly modified form. Although the SCC has been effective in addressing organised crime and local-level corruption cases, it has issued very few convictions for high-level corruption involving the national elite. Many lay the blame for this situation on the prosecutors rather than on the SCC itself.

This brief is part of a series of case studies on special anti-corruption courts. The case studies discuss the court’s design and whether they have lived up to the expectations that led to their establishment. We draw lessons for their particular country context, but also specialisation of courts more generally.

These case studies will be complemented by a forthcoming issue paper discussing and comparing specialised anti-corruption courts around the world.

8 July 2016
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Specialised anti-corruption courts: Slovakia

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Stephenson, M. (2016) Specialised anti-corruption courts: Slovakia. Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Brief 2016:2) 4 p

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About the author

Matthew C. Stephenson

Matthew C. Stephenson is Eli Goldston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is an expert in anti-corruption law, legislation, administrative law, and the application of political economy to public institutional design. He has served as a consultant, advisor, and lecturer on topics related to anti-corruption, judicial reform, and administrative procedure for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, and national governments and academic institutions in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Global Anticorruption Blog (www.globalanticorruptionblog.com), with more than 10,000 followers.

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This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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